GRAMBLING – Anfernee Mullins thought how he worked would take him straight to his ultimate goal.

What he found out in three short years was everyone is susceptible to unforeseeable curves in the road, despite believing he controlled his life and what he would get out of it through his physical ability and work ethic.

Life comes at you fast. And it’s humbling. And in the darkest days, the strongest inspiration can come out of the most unpredictable of circumstances.

Taking the field at the Cotton Bowl wearing the all-white road uniforms of Grambling State and the black helmet with the gold “G” last Saturday, Mullins never saw that coming for himself out of high school, the last time he played in a football game. He couldn’t have been happier the curve came.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said of what he was thinking before kickoff Saturday. “I don’t want to mess up, I’m nervous. A lot of fans, but when I got out there and made the first play, I said, ‘OK. I can settle down and play my game now.’”

Starkville saga

Mullins earned a bevy of collegiate offers coming out of Aliceville High School in Alabama in 2015. Out of nearly 20 schools including Louisville, Southern Miss and Memphis courting him, Mississippi State headlined the group with its SEC prestige and ultimately received the signed letter-of-intent from the defensive end.

The Bulldogs were stacked at his position and he knew redshirting would be likely in his first year with the program. Going into his second season in Starkville, coaches began doubling-down on the initial plan they told to Mullins and his mother, Chelsia, out of high school, that Mississippi State would count on him playing in 2016, he said. But that recruiting cycle, the program signed four defensive ends, eight total defensive linemen with half of those coming out of junior colleges, and making his path to the field bumpy at best.

“With the guys in front of me, I felt like I was at least on part with or better. I was supposed to play. I was practicing with the ones and twos, but come game time, I would never get in,” Mullins recalled. Chelsia received phone calls from coaches the day after games, apologizing for her son not playing, he said.

The season came and went with Mullins not receiving playing time as a redshirt freshman and it was time for a change. He informed State head coach Dan Mullen of his intention to transfer immediately after the 2016 season concluded and reopened his recruitment this spring.

While his time on the field with the Bulldogs took its mental toll, Starkville will always be where Mullins found all the inspiration he’d ever need.

Paityn Mullins

July 27, 2016 marked the day Mullins was handed everything he knew he needed for work for.

His daughter, Paityn Mullins, was born and fatherhood immediately gave the then 20-year-old much-needed perspective among all the tribulations he was navigating on the football field.

“It’s a great feeling. At first, I was kind of scared, but seeing my daughter being born it was just amazing. It inspired me to work harder and try to do everything right for her, get everything she needs and want,” he said.

“I still did what I did, but ultimately she inspired me to go harder. She inspired me them days I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to do this.’ Now it’s ‘I’ve got to do this’ to make a living for me and her. It was just inspiration.”

Trust and family

For his second go-around in the recruiting process, Mullins looked for one thing: truth.

Just like out of high school, several colleges wanted the 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive end in their football program. And he reheard all the superlatives of “being the main guy”, an expected “difference maker” and “you will play here.”

Grambling State reached out to Mullins and got him on campus for a visit. Instead of telling the highly sought transfer what sounded good, head coach Broderick Fobbs and defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Everett Todd took a more direct approach.

“When I came down on my visit the coaches showed me love and I felt the family atmosphere. Coach Fobbs and coach Todd, they were honest with me, they were straightforward, straight to the point. And that’s what I like,” Mullins said. “Being recruited, I’ve been lied to before. I felt like they weren’t lying to me, they told you come in, work hard, you will be on the field. I respected that. Coach Kitchens, coach Fobbs called me on the daily after I left.

“I just felt the family atmosphere and being around the Grambling fans, they were welcoming. It just felt like it’s the right place to be at the right time coming off a national championship, losing six defensive linemen. It was just the right spot at the right time.”

Mullins committed and signed with the Tigers in late May and Fobbs, Todd and the rest of the GSU coaching staff celebrated.

“He’s one of those types where you know he’s there and you know he’s great and you wonder if he’s going to pay any attention to you,” Fobbs said. “But he’s just a freak of nature. When you’re 6-foot-4, 275 pounds and can run like he can run with no body fat, I don’t know what you do with that. We’re fortunate to have him, and he’s an even better kid.”

(Continue reading below video of Broderick Fobbs)

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Grambling State head football coach Broderick Fobbs describes defensive end Anfernee Mullins' first game as a Tigers last Saturday.
Cory Diaz/The News-Star

‘Get it out the mud’

The SEC has been long regarded as the best conference in the college football world. SEC teams get the best recruits, they have the best facilities and has branded itself as the toughest, most physical place to play.

That all may be true, but for Mullins, having experience inside a program in that league, he’s noticed something much different at the FCS level at Grambling State.

“The competition is the same to me. People down there in this league, they work harder because they feel like they’re supposed to be in the SEC, they’re supposed to be in the ACC, they’re supposed to be in the big-time programs,” Mullins said. “With that being said, they work harder. You come down here and you see what getting it out the mud means. They’re going to inspire you to work harder, you see the next man working hard next to you.”

The former SEC defensive end worked his way to the top of the depth chart at the position for the G-Men just a few short months after joining the program and was all set to make his debut Sept. 2 in the season opener at Tulane. But the day before the game, Mullins was hit was a setback finding out he hadn’t been fully cleared.

“That Friday got a phone call I can’t play. I sat down and watched my teammates against Tulane, I cheered them on, I tried to be their motivator and be a good teammate. Just played it week-by-week, am I going to play?” he said. “I just had to stay prayed up and talk to my family and leaned on my teammates to get me through it. I felt like, aw man, this again? My teammates never let me give up and I appreciate them for that.”

Waiting for the green light for five weeks was hard for Mullins, but Fobbs believed it turned out to be a positive.

“He’s a really good kid and I think more importantly, with all of the things we’ve gone through in the recent weeks, it’s probably turned the light on for him to understand the importance of doing everything the right way. Not just playing football the right way,” Fobbs said.

Long-awaited Debut

His work never stopped amid the uncertain status each week after the 2017 season arrived. Mullins finally received the good news of being cleared the Tuesday before the annual State Fair Classic game versus Prairie View A&M last weekend at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

The redshirt sophomore made sure he stayed ready for this first game with Tigers. The coaching staff, along with the entire Grambling family and fan base anticipating the defensive end’s debut, Fobbs was still surprised by Mullins – even by just the sight of him.

“I didn’t see him come out of the locker room, I was already on the field when the O-line, D-line came out for warmups. So I didn’t see him at all and then all of a sudden I turned around and I saw this big guy. I said, ‘Oh my goodness, look at him in his uniform,’” Fobbs said.

“He’s a very, very dominant player. I knew he was dominant in practice, but you never know how good you are to know how dominant he’s going to be. My thing was just to try to get him on the field and see what happens. I didn’t know he’d be that dominant right away. But it’s obvious we got a really good one and he’s just a sophomore.”

Dominate Mullins did in the first football game he played since high school in Alabama, racking up six total tackles, including two sacks and earning the SWAC Newcomer of the Week award.

Mullins pressed the pedal a little closer to the medal with his first GSU performance Saturday. More importantly after all he’s been through the last three years, the Aliceville native straightened the road a little toward his goals, by rediscovering the love for the game.

“It was an honor. Everything felt so good. At first I was kind of nervous, but when I got on the field, started making plays everything just clicked back,” Mullins said. “And me getting the love for the game back again.

“Getting that feeling back, it was just unbelievable. I dedicated that game to my daughter. So I have to go hard for it and shoot for my dreams because being out for three years, there were trials where I wanted to give up. But I was like, no I need to keep pushing through it. Everything is going to pay off and Saturday it paid off.”

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Grambling State redshirt sophomore defensive end Anfernee Mullins breaks down his first game with the G-Men.
Cory Diaz/The News-Star

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